What a Lovely Day

The snow has stopped and the winds are still! We have finally gotten a little relief from this cold blast we have been having. It snowed pretty good on Christmas Day. It's hard to tell how much we have because the wind came up and blew it all around, so we have some pretty good drifts in places. We had to take the pickup yesterday to run to Harlo becuase we couldn't get out of our garage! While we were gone, Bryan must have come and plowed our driveway for us. Thank you! Right now it is a lovely 34 degrees out. Benjie and Kitty sure are enjoying this nicer weather. We cannot make Benjie go out when it's this cold and the cat has been in the house for about a month! We try kicking her out because she gets nutty if she's in the house too long, but she has just discovered how to use Benjie's doggy door to get back in the house when we kick her out. So it has been quite the battle around here. But Kitty has been outside for a couple of hours now. Granted she hasn't gone too far, but at least she's out!

Christmas Memories

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Tim and I went to my parents on Christmas Eve for the annual Crab Legs and Shrimp Dinner. It was delicious! Afterwards we opened our presents reveled in our new treasures. We spent the night there and helped my mom to make Christmas Dinner. It was a nice quiet day with our family. Aunt Dauna, Uncle Pete and Justin and Grandma Jo came for the day. We spent the day visiting and listening to dad and uncle Pete reminisce about the "old days!" I had to take a picture of Benjie with his new haircut and his holiday bow!

White Christmas

This is one of my favorite holiday videos. It's pretty funny. Keep your eye on the white reindeer. The song is sung by The Drifters, cartoon by Joshua Held.

Something Warm & Yummy For The Tummy

Well, it looks like these cold temperatures are going to stick around for awhile. I don't mind a little cold weather, it is Winter after all. But these below zero days have been a little trying. I wanted to share this warm punch recipe with you. It's perfect for the holiday season, and you can cuddle up with a blanket and a nice mug of punch. Hope you enjoy it!

Crockpot Holiday Wassail Punch

1 cup sugar

8 whole cloves

3 cups water

3 cinnamon sticks

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1 cup lemon juice

1 gallon apple juice

Combine all ingredients in a 4 qt. crock pot. Simmer on low for 4 hours or until heated to desired temperature. You may also cook on high for 1 hour then reduce the heat to save time. Serve hot! (If you do not have whole cloves and cinnamon sticks, you make use Pickling Spices, as we found out tonight when we made it for the Fire Department Christmas Party!)

I'm a Blogger!

Well, here I am on Blog World! I'm trying to keep up with all my friends! This seems like such a fun way to keep in touch and tell everyone what we've been up to and hopefully share some fun pictures too! As you know Tim and I were married on December 6th. We had a lovely Christmas Wedding, and I will post pictures as soon as I get them. For now, here are a few pictures of the decorating process. We had wonderful help from my parents, my cousin Joni, my friend Melissa, and Tim's brother Ted. Thanks everyone for making it a "Christmas Wonderland!" (as I've dubbed the events!)